How do you think you look at the world?
A basic and simple question to most people, one a five year old would be able to answer.
‘With your eyes’, they would reply.
But, it’s not through the lens of your eyes that you have tended see the world and life, but through the perceptions of your mind.
Or, more precisely…..Mindsight!
The super recorder mind.
Your mind is amazing.
Not only can it generate 46.8 thoughts per second (amounting to 70,000 thoughts per day), it can also store some 2.5 million gigabytes of memory. It is the mega computer of mega computers housed in your head. And…it’s always working. Working, evaluating, responding…..and keeping!
You see, it doesn’t just hold data and process images and compute everything from your cost of that snap vacation to Bora Bora to when you last visited Aunt Maud. It records it all.
Your mind is effectively a super tape recorder.
Not only does it hold learned info, it turns that into instructions. Life advice from parents, guidance insight from teachers/authority figures, influences from friends and colleagues, and, yes, even the news and the media. This becomes your ‘guide’ for living; your blueprint of how life and the world is made up and your place in it.
Furthermore is the unknown factor few realise. That mental tape recorder picks up the lot. All your throw away trash thoughts or your ongoing daily self-talk chatter gets picked up and kept in the same internal file named, ‘This is Life and Me’.
Your mind keeps everything. It’s a hoarder!
A world of perception.
What you see, is not what you see.
It’s what you are told to see by your mind from your life storage file. Like a type of artificial reality game playing out for real. Mindsight at work.
When any given situation occurs (directly or indirectly involving you), your mind has already noticed and begins feeding you a stream of beliefs (both personal and impersonal) it has held catalogued in its storage banks. This happens in the blink of an eye. So, before you’ve had time to make up your conscious mind about it, the subconscious has already jumped in and interrupted with a meaning.
This all takes place so fast you believe that these are your actual thoughts and views as you look at something or someone. Here’s an example –
You see a pretty blonde girl/handsome blonde guy you’ve not met before at a bar. You are attracted by the way they look and dress and how their personality comes across. Before you can do a thing about it, in comes the feedback from the ‘This is Life and Me’ file which instantly pulls up….
‘That’s a blonde, the last blonde you dated was a nightmare, stay way from blondes. They say blondes are more fun, but they aren’t very faithful, everyone knows, so steer well clear’.
Your potential dream partner is left standing at the bar and your happy love life with it.
Your mindsight saw her/him and fed you old junk you accepted.
What can you do? How can you override that non-fun file in your mind?
Mindsight isn’t right sight.
Let’s get back to those eyes. Remember what your eyes see.
Sounds a silly piece of advice, but where mental filters are spoiling the view, it’s wisdom you need to recall as often as possible. Your eyes are going to be a major ally in defeating Mindsight.
It will be like removing a mask that’s long prevented you from seeing life correctly. But, you are going to have be switched on eyes wise. Whatever you first see (gorgeous girl/guy, new industry job opportunities, business idea financial support etc), you MUST remind yourself that it IS what you see, NOT what your mind is telling you that you are looking at.
View it as every time you look at something/someone the Mindsight acts similar to a nagging parent when you were a teen or that work colleague that has to give their opinion on anything. Chatter you don’t need. Hear that voice but listen to yourself if what you see appeals to you.
That blonde looks a lovely person so you are going to go on over and find out. That new industry you heard about sounds interesting so you’re going to read up on it more. The unusual business idea you have, well, you’re going to develop it into a business plan and see who is interested.
That’s the skill to develop. To keep in mind Mindsight and how it filters the world.
From now on keep Mindsight at the back of your mind and your eyesight at the front.
Mindsight isn’t right sight for insight!
References – American Journal of Medicine – Amjmed.com – A Selection of Fascinating Facts About the Brain and Heart.
Clinical Neurology Specialists – cnsnevada.com – What is the Memory Capacity of a Human Brain?
Photo Attribution – free to use under Pixabay Content License by surajSTK and BrianPenny and LeandroDeCarvalho.
